main theme from “star trek: first contact”
i tend to get obsessed with john williams & michael giacchino compositions, but once in a while i remember that jerry goldsmith existed. and not only did he exist, he wrote some of the best & most varied themes out there!
driving in my truck recently, the end credits suite from “star trek: first contact” popped up in the shuffle and i knew that two things needed to happen: one, i need to learn to play the main theme on piano (it’s not that hard of a tune, and my piano skills really aren’t that bad), and that i wanted to do something with it via writing.
i decided that a theme and variations was not something i felt like doing today, so i decided that i could just write some arrangements from the simple piano sheet music (i spend about three minutes transcribing the melody, felt happy that i nailed the first few bars, then found a copy of the sheet music on the lines). ended up cranking out string orchestra, strings and woodwinds and full orchestra versions. these are not supposed to be perfect transcriptions & simplifications, but my own tiny twist on things.
working on this, i marveled at how simple the melody is (and the secondary melodies) but was really impressed at how non-complex the harmonic material is.
my biggest realization was the wonderful dichotomy of jerry goldsmith that he could get so weird, but also so beautiful, and this tune is the latter.
